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Group Health locked down following threats to birth center – UPDATE

Group Health’s birth center on its Capitol Hill campus at 15th Ave E and Thomas was under police lockdown late Thursday night following threats made by a man who told a 911 operator he would find a way to kill himself, his newborn child and his wife whom he said was in labor at the hospital. According to police radio transmissions, officers were told by a nurse reviewing security footage that the man had entered the hospital around 10:10 PM. A subsequent search did not turn up the man and hospital staff and police remained in position at entrances to secure the building.

These details from an eyewitness were posted to Central District News around midnight:

I just left Group Health urgent care and couldn’t get my car – will have to get it in the morning. The GH North building and that whole end of the block was closed off with crime tape and a super crabby SPD said to move along, no getting the car. There were other police with assault style guns, but seemed to be packing up. What happened?

According to a police radio report, the man is a resident of Sea-Tac. Police were looking for a white male, about 6 foot tall, 220 pounds. The Group Health hospital was locked down around 10:40 PM as police began a floor-by-floor check of the facility. By 11:40 PM, the buildings had checked clear.

According to police radio dispatches, the man had made threats to Group Health staff previously (Central District News’s scanner report noted the Wednesday threat here) and also had a run-in Wednesday with authorities who reported that he was agitated and had attempted to barricade himself inside his Sea-Tac home. Authorities were also sent to check the residence during tonight’s lockdown.

UPDATE 5/7/2010 8:45 AM:
Still working to confirm details of last night’s incident with SPD but we did speak with Group Health spokesperson Mike Foley who confirmed that the incident did occur but said the Capitol Hill campus is providing regular service today and that there are no restrictions on access. He deferred all questions about the specifics of the incident and the patient involved to SPD citing federal privacy laws.


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jseattle
jseattle
13 years ago

SPD public info is still slammed so have directed us to make a public records request. We’ll file and hopefully be able to provide more info soon.

Terri
Terri
13 years ago

Nice huh?